DECISION

ON PROMULGATION OF REGULATION ON FORMAL UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Pursuant to the Law on Education dated June 14, 2005;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 86/2002/ND-CP dated November 05, 2002 by the Government defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of Ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 85/2003/ND-CP dated July 18, 2003 by the Government defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of The Ministry of Education and Training;

At the request of Director of Higher Education Department.

DECIDES:

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Article 2. This Decision comes into effect after 15 days since it is posted on Official gazette and replaces the Decision No. 04/1999/QD-BGD&DT dated February 11, 199 by the Minister of Education and Training. Any regulations opposing this Decision is annulled.

Article 3. Chiefs of the Ministry Offices, Director of Higher Education Department, Heads of relevant units that are affiliated to The Ministry of Education and Training, Director of universities and institutes; Directors of universities and colleges are responsible for implementing this Decisions.

THE MINISTER




Nguyen Minh Hien

REGULATION

ON FORMAL UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
(Enclosed with Decision No. 25/2006/QD-BGDDT dated June 26, 2006 by the Minister of Education and Training)

Chapter 1:

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Article 1. Governing scope and regulated entities

1. This Regulation provides for formal undergraduate education regarding organization of training; testing; graduation exam and recognition of graduation.

2. This Regulation applies to students of formal courses of university level and college level in institutes, universities and colleges (hereinafter referred to as undergraduate schools) that apply the flexible system combining yearly academic system with course system.

Article 2. Undergraduate curriculum

1. The undergraduate curricula (hereinafter referred to as curriculum) present the goals of undergraduate education, regulate the standards of knowledge, skills, scope and structure of higher education, methods and forms of training, methods of evaluation of specific course, discipline and level of the undergraduate education.

2. The curricula are made by the schools on the basis of the framework curriculum promulgated by the Minister of Education and Training. Each framework curriculum matches a discipline of a certain level of education. Each curriculum may be used for a discipline or a number of disciplines.

3. A curriculum consists of fundamental subjects and professional subjects.

Article 3. Courses and credits

1. "Course” means a nearly complete amount of knowledge that students can accumulate during the study process. Most courses carry 2 to 5 credits, training contents are provided completely and evenly during a semester. Knowledge in each course shall be corresponding to a level according to the course design and shall be structured as a part of a subject or a collection of many subjects. Each course shall be designated with a code regulated by particular school.

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a) A compulsory course is the course containing the main knowledge contents of a curriculum that a student must accumulate. 

b) An elective course contains the necessary knowledge that students are allowed to select according to the guidance of their schools to diversify the specialities or select freely to accumulate enough required courses.

3. Credits are used to calculate the academic load of students.

A credit shall be equivalent to 15 theory periods; 30 - 45 periods of practice, experiment or discussion; 45 - 90 hours of internship; 45-60 hours of thesis, coursework or graduate thesis. Regarding theory courses or practical courses, students shall spend at least 15 self-preparation hours for a credit. Directors of undergraduate schools shall provide specific regulations on the number of periods/hours for each course according to the characteristics of their schools.

4. A study period lasts 45 minutes.

Chapter 2:

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION

Article 4. Education time and schedule

1. Undergraduate schools shall provide education by programs, years and semesters.

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Depending on the curriculum, the program shall be specified as follows:

- College education lasts 2 - 3 years depending on the speciality, applicable to students having the high school diplomas or the vocational degrees; or 1.5 - 2 years, applicable to students having the vocational degrees of the same speciality.

- University education lasts 4 - 6 years depending on the speciality, applicable to students having the high school diplomas or the vocational degrees; or 2.5 - 4 years, applicable to students having the vocational degrees of the same speciality; or 1.5 -2 years, applicable to students having college's degrees of the same speciality.

b) An academic year contains 2 main semesters with at least 15 actual-study weeks and 3 weeks for testing. Besides 2 main semesters, the Director shall consider providing an additional semester for repetition, make-up study or accelerated study. An auxiliary semester shall contain at least 5 actual-study weeks and 1 week for testing.

2. Depending on the amount and contents of knowledge specified for a curriculum, the Director shall apportion the courses to specific school years/semesters.

a) At the beginning of a program, the school management shall publish the contents and results of different curricula, education regulation; obligations and rights of students.

b) At the beginning of a year, the school shall make announcement about the schedule for specific curricula in each semester, lists of scheduled compulsory courses and elective courses, the syllabus and preconditions for registering for the courses, schedule and forms of test applied to the courses.

Before a semester, each student must register with the registrar office of his/her school for elective courses, additional courses and delayed courses in the academic schedule of such semester, after consulting education service officials of the school. Otherwise, students must follow the schedule regulated by the school.

3. Time limit for a curriculum includes the time regulated for a curriculum specified in clause 1 of this Article adding the maximum period a student is allowed to have study suspension prescribed in clause 3 Article 6 and clause 2 Article 7 of this Regulation.

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1. Regarding schools determining the admission scores according to the curricula (or the disciplines) in enrollment examination, schools shall arrange the candidates satisfying the enrollment requirements to enroll in the curricula (or disciplines) they have registered.

2. Regarding schools determining the admission scores according to the curricula (or the disciplines) in enrollment examination, schools shall publish the enrollment limit for each curriculum (or discipline). When students have completed compulsory courses before the registration of specialized courses, the school shall arrange students to curricula (or disciplines) on the basis of the registration for curriculum (or discipline) of students and their GPA.

A student may apply for some curricula (or disciplines) in order of priority. Director of the school shall regulate the quantity of curricula (or disciplines) for students to register.

Article 6. Conditions for students to continue studying, to be temporarily absent from school, to suspend their study, or to be expelled from school

Before a school year, depending on the courses that students have completed, their GPA of the previous school year and their accumulative GPA, the school shall consider allowing the continuity, temporary absence, suspension or expulsion of students. The study result of student in summer semester (if any) of a school year shall be included in the study result of the same year.

1. A student shall be allowed to enroll the next school year if the following conditions are satisfied:

a) The GPA of the school year is at least 5.00;

b) No more than 25 credits get under 5.00.

In the next semesters, students shall initiatively register for repetition of compulsory courses with the results of under 5.00; regarding elective courses with the results of under 5.00, students may register for repetition or register for another course.

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a) The student is mobilized to join the armed forces;

b) The student is sick or has an accident that needs a long-term treatment; such case shall be verified by the medical agency;

c) The student has personal reasons for temporary absence. In this case, the student must have completed at least 1 semester and his/her GPA must be at least 5.00. Duration of temporary absence due to personal reasons shall be included in the official study duration specified in clause 3 Article 4 of this Regulation.

After the temporary absence, the student wishing to continue pursuing his/her degree shall submit an application to the Director at least 1 week before a new semester or a new school year starts.

3. Students other than those specified in clause 1 and clause 4 of this Article may apply for a suspension of study to have time to improve the knowledge and learning outcomes.

a) Any students who is not eligible for priority in training may apply for a suspension of study for not exceeding 1 year for a program, applicable to curricula lasting less than 3 years; or not exceeding 2 years for a program, applicable to curricular lasting 3 to 5 years; or not exceeding 3 years for a program, applicable to curricular lasting 5 to 6 years.

b) During the study suspension, students shall register for repetition of compulsory courses with the results of under 5.00; regarding elective courses with the results of under 5.00, students may register for repetition or register for another course. The Director shall consider arranging such students to a number of courses of the next school year on their request.

4. A student shall incur expulsion from school in the following cases:

a) The GPA of the school year is under 3.50;

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c) The student has been studying at school for longer than the time limit specified in clause 3 Article 4 of this Regulation;

d) The student incurs disciplinary penalties for the impersonation at the examination as prescribed in clause 2 Article 19 of this Regulation;

Not later than 1 month since the decision on expulsion is issued, the school shall send a notification to the local government of the place at which the student has permanent resident status. If the school also provides corresponding programs of lower levels or continuing education programs, any students specified in points a, b and c of this clause may apply for such programs; his/her corresponding study results of the previous program shall be reserved. The Director shall consider deciding study results to be reserved in specific cases.

Article 7. Priority in training

1. Entities eligible for priority policies according to the provisions of the Regulations on enrolment for formal undergraduate education are eligible for priority in training.

2. Undergraduate students eligible for priority are entitled to suspension of study to improve knowledge and learning outcomes. The duration of study suspension shall not exceed 2 years for the whole program, applicable to curricula lasting less than 3 years; shall not exceed 3 years for the whole program, applicable to curricular lasting 3 to 5 years; and shall not exceed 4 years for the whole program, applicable to curricula lasting 5 to 6 years.

3. During the study suspension, preferential treatment for students eligible for priority is still provided.

Article 8. Study progress different from the common progress regulated by the school; concurrent curricula

1. Slow progress:

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b) Provisions for slow study progress:

- The number of courses subject to withdrawal in each semester shall not exceed 12 credits; such courses should not be compulsory courses of the main speciality;

- Conditions for students to continue studying, to suspend their study or leave school applicable to students following a slow study progress are in accordance with provisions in Article 6 of this Regulation

- Time limit for the whole program applicable to students following a slow study program must not exceed the limit time applicable to students following normal progress specified in clause 3 Article 4 of this Regulation;

- Apart from student eligible for priority, if a student follows the slow study progress in a year, he/she shall not be provided with allowances for such school year.

2. Fast progress:

a) A student following the slow study progress is a student wishing to study faster than the common progress. To follow a slow study progress, the student shall send the registrar office and application for accelerate study of a number of courses in the study schedule.

b) Provisions for fast study progress:

- Only students having completed the first school year are allowed to apply for fast study progress;

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- Any students pursuing the accelerate study that has the GPA of the school year applying the accelerate study of under 6.00 must return to the normal study.

- Any student pursuing the accelerate study may have his/her studying duration reduced but such period must not exceed 1 year for university level and 1 semester for college level;

3. Concurrent curricula:

a) A student who follows a concurrent-curricula program is a student who wishes to follow a second curriculum of his/her current school to gain 2 degrees when he/she graduates.

b) Provisions for concurrent curricula:

- The major of the second curriculum shall be different from the one of the first curriculum.

- Students wishing to pursue the concurrent-curricula study must not be subject to study suspension and must have GPA of the previous school year of at least 7.00.

- Any student following the second curriculum who got a GPA for a year of under 6.00 shall suspend the second curriculum in the next semester.

- The time limit for a student following concurrent-curricula study to complete his/her study is the time limit prescribed for the first curriculum specified in clause 3 Article 6 of this Regulation. When following the second curriculum, the student will have the results of the courses having similar content and similar amount of knowledge of the first curriculum reserved.

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4. Regarding students following the fast study progress and students following the concurrent-curricula study, regulations on scholarships and fees are applied until the students complete their study.

Article 9. School transfer

1. A student may be considered for school transfer if the following conditions are satisfied:

a) The student transfers the residence within the study duration or the student has disadvantaged conditions that requires him/her to transfer to a school near to his/her residence to facilitate his/her study;

b) The student transfers to a school providing the same major or speciality group with the one the student is pursuing;

c) The transfer is approved by both the Director of the current school and the Director of the target school.

2. School transfer is forbidden in the following cases:

a) The student failed the entrance exam to the target school or the student’s score is lower than the admission band score of the target school if the current school and the target school use the same exam topic;

b) The student has permanent residence outside the admission requirements of the target school;

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d) The student is incurring a disciplinary measure of warning level or higher.

3. Procedures for school transfer:

a) Any student wishing to transfer school shall submit an application according to regulations of the school;

b) The Director of the target school may decide to accept or not; decide the future study of the student, including the number of school years and number of courses that the student needs to supplement on the basis of the difference between the curricula of the current school and the target school.

Chapter 3:

TESTING

Article 10. Course assessment

1. Regarding theory courses or theory-practice combined courses:

Course grade includes on-going assessment, assessment of attitude of students, practical activities, attendance, mid-term testing, thesis titles and final testing, where the assessment of mid-term testing and final testing is required under any circumstance and must account for at least 50% of the course grade.

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2. Regarding the practice courses: students shall attend sufficiently the practice lessons.

The arithmetic mean of the practice lesson in a semester that is rounded to 1 decimal place is the final grade of the practice course.

3. The lecturer in charge of the course is responsible for designing the test questions and giving on-going assessment, excluding the final tests.

Article 11. Final testing

1. At the end of each semester, the school shall organize the final tests, including 1 main stage and 1 auxiliary stage. The auxiliary stage is organized for students who failed to participate in the main stage or received a course grade of under 5.00 after the main stage. The auxiliary stage shall be organized at least 2 week after the main stage.

2. Time for review for the test of a course shall be proportional to the number of credits of such course, at least 1/5 day for each credit. The Director of school shall specify the time for review for the tests and the dates of tests.

Article 12. Design of question sheets, form of test, marking and the limit number of times for taking final tests

1. The final test questions shall be appropriate to the contents of the course specified in the curriculum. The question sheet may be designed or taken from the question bank according to the instruction of the Director of school.

2. The form of final tests could be multiple-choice test, writing test, oral test, thesis, coursework or the combination of these forms.

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3. The marking of final test containing theory questions only and the marking of coursework shall be carried out by 2 lecturers. The testing scores shall be published no later than 1 week from the date of testing or the day the coursework is handed in.

The Director of school shall provide regulations on the retention of the test papers after marking. The test papers, theses and coursework shall be retained for at least 2 years from the date of test of the day on which the theses/courseworks are handed in.

4. The marking of final test in form of oral test shall be carried out by 2 lecturers. The scores of the oral tests shall be published when the tests finished and the two examiners have agreed the scores. If the two lecturers who are in charge of marking the test fail to come to agreement of the score, it shall be decided by a the head of subject group or the dean of the faculty.

The final-test scores shall be written on scoring sheets according to the form regulated by the school management boards and shall bear the signature of the marking lecturers; such scoring sheets shall be made in 3 copies. The scoring sheets of final tests and the course grade shall be retained in the subject groups, the faculties and registrar offices no later than 1 week after the final-test paper/presentation are graded.

5. Any student who is absent from the final test without a good and sufficient reason must receive 0 point for the main stage. Such students shall participate in the auxiliary stage of the test.

6. Any student who is absent from the main stage of final test with good and sufficient reason may take the auxiliary stage right then if allowed by the dean of faculty, the result in this case shall be considered the first-stage score.

Such students shall take the second-stage tests (if any) only in final tests organized in another semester.

7. If after the auxiliary stage, course grade of the student is still below 5.00, he/she must register for repetition of the course.

Article 13. Calculation of testing scores, GPA and grading of study results

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2. GPA:

a) GPA of students is calculated as follows:

Where:

A is the semester GPA or the cumulative GPA

a_i is the grade of the i^th course

n_i is the credits of the i^th course

n is the total number of courses.

GPA of a semester, a year, a program and the cumulative GPA are rounded to 2 decimal places.

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The assessment of grades and conditions for granting certificates for such courses shall be carried out according to regulations of The Ministry of Education and Training.

c) The GPA used for the consideration of expulsion, suspension, continuity or graduation and the cumulative GPA of a program shall be calculated according to the highest scores the student got for specific courses.

3. Classification of study results:

a) Passed:                   Grade of 9 to 10 points: Exellent

                                   Grade of 8 to under 9 points:                  Good

                                   Grade of 7 to under 8 points:                  Fair

                                   Grade of 6 to under 7 points:                  Average

                                   Grade of 5 to under 6 points:                  Passing

b) Not passed:             Grade of 4 to under 5 points:                  Weak

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Chapter 4:

GRADUATION TESTING AND GRADUATION RECOGNITION

Article 14. Internship, graduate thesis or graduation tests

1. In the last school year, students are allowed to register for doing graduate thesis or take graduation tests in specialized knowledge or Marx-Lenin and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology knowledge as follows:

a) Graduate thesis: applicable to students satisfying the requirement of school. Graduate thesis is a course containing not exceeding 20 credits. The Director shall regulate the specific amount of credits according to the training requirement of the school.

b) Graduation tests in specialized knowledge are applicable to university-level students not eligible for doing graduate thesis and college-level students having accumulated sufficiently required courses.

The content of graduation test in specialized knowledge includes 2 parts: basis knowledge and specialized knowledge from a number of compulsory courses of the curriculum with a knowledge amount equivalent to the knowledge amount used for the thesis specified in point a clause 1 of this Article. The Director of the school shall provide specific regulations on the contents and amount of the knowledge, calculated by the number of credits, of the knowledge subject to review for specific curricula and publish such information at the beginning of the last semester.

c) Graduation tests in Marx-Lenin and Ho Chi Minh’s Ideology knowledge are applicable to all undergraduate students according to regulations of The Ministry of Education and Training.

2. Depending on the conditions of school and peculiarities of each discipline, the Director shall provide regulations on:

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- Form and time of doing graduate thesis, requirements for conducting thesis defense;

- Contents of courses included in the tests, form of review and testing, form of graduate thesis assessment;

- Tasks of supervisors; responsibilities of subject groups and faculty managers towards students during the graduate thesis formulation and the reviewing.

3. Regarding graduate thesis of disciplines requiring a great amount of time for experiment or survey, school may arrange for the graduate thesis formulation and internship to happen concurrently.

4. In the last school year, any students liable to criminal prosecution is not allowed to register for doing graduate thesis or taking graduation tests.

Article 15. Assessment of graduate thesis and graduation test

1. The Director is responsible for issuing the decision on establishment of assessment councils for graduate theses, graduation test in specialized knowledge and Marx-Lenin and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology knowledge. The council may include 3, 5 or 7 members, including 1 chairman and 1 secretary. Members of the council shall be lecturers of school or other people with corresponding profession who are invited.

2. When the student has presented his/her thesis and answered questions, members of the council shall assess the thesis by writing mark on assessment slips. Grade of graduate thesis is the arithmetic mean of scores given by members of the council, the assessor and the instructor that is rounded to an integer.

3. Graduation tests in specialized knowledge or Marx-Lenin and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology knowledge as follows may be organized in form of writing test or oral test. Time limit for a writing test shall not exceed 180 minutes for each part. The compilation of question sheet, the invigilation and the assessment of writing test or oral test shall be prescribed by the Director.

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The grade of theses or graduation tests in specialized knowledge shall be included in the accumulative GPA of students.

Any student doing theses or taking graduation tests as specified in clauses 1 and 2 Article 14 of this Regulation who got under 5 shall be provided with a repetition of thesis defense/graduation test within 3 to 6 months since the results are published. The contents, form, the assessment and organization of such thesis defenses/graduation tests shall be in accordance with the main ones or according to decisions of the Director.

Article 16. Internship and conditions for consideration for graduation applicable to a number of peculiar disciplines

Regarding a number of peculiar disciplines in the fields of Art, Architecture, Medicine, Sport, etc. the Director shall provide regulations on content and form of internship, form of graduate thesis defense, form of assessment of graduate thesis, graduation test; conditions for consideration and recognition of graduation according to the characters of specific curricula.

Article 17. Conditions for consideration and recognition of graduation

1. A student shall satisfy the following conditions to be considered graduation:

a) The student is not liable to criminal prosecution by the time of consideration for graduation;

b) The student has accumulated sufficiently courses, none of which is graded under 5.00;

c) The student has passed the Marx-Lenin science and Ho Chi Minh’s Ideology courses;

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2. Depending on the request of the Graduation consideration council, the Director shall append signature on decisions on recognition of graduation for eligible students.

The Graduation consideration council shall include the Director or the authorized Vice Director as the Chairman, the Head of the Registrar office as the secretary and the deans of specialized faculties and other members decided by the Director.

Article 18. Issuance of the Certificate of graduation, reserve study, transfer of form of education

1. The Certificates of graduation from university/college are issued according to the main.

A Certificate of graduation shall be granted only when information on the template prescribed in current regulations by the Ministry of Education and Training has been written sufficiently and accurately. The graduate grades shall be determined according to the final cumulative GPA according to provisions of clause 3 Article 13 of this Regulation.

2. The graduate grade of a student having the final results at excellent or good level shall be 1-level degraded in the following cases:

a) The number of failed credits exceeds 5% of the total credits in the whole program;

b) The student has incurred a disciplinary measure of warning level or higher during the time he/she studies at the school.

3. The study results of students shall be recorded to the transcript by course. The transcript shall state the speciality or auxiliary speciality (if any).

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5. Any student who does not graduate is granted a certificate of the completed courses at school. Such student may apply for transfer to another curriculum according to the regulations in clause 4 Article 6 of this Regulation.

Chapter 5:

ACTIONS AGAINST VIOLATIONS

Article 19. Disciplinary penalties for students committing violations against the regulations on testing

1. During on-going tests, mid-term tests, final tests, graduation tests, thesis defenses (hereinafter referred to as testing), any student committing violations against the regulation shall be imposed disciplinary measures for each violation.

2. Any student who takes a test by the name of another student and any student who requests another to take a test by his/her name shall incur an academic suspension of 1 year (applicable to the initial violations) or incur an academic expulsion (applicable to the second violations).

3. Except for the cases specified in clause 2 of this Article, penalties for students who commit violations shall comply with the provisions in the formal undergraduate enrollment regulation./.